My school is planning an Intergenerational Day, in which students invite grandparents or other guests to attend school for part of the day. We’re also inviting residents of a local retirement community. I’d like to participate with my fifth grade science classes, but I want our guests to be more than spectators. Do you have any suggestions for appropriate activities?
—Stacy, Dayton, Ohio
The high school where I taught had a similar event every year. In addition to lunch in the cafeteria with the students and a mini-concert by the band, the guests spent two or three periods in the classrooms. They enjoyed being around the students, and it was an opportunity for them to see what goes on in school beyond what they learn from the media.
The goal should be to get students and guests to interact with each other during the time they’re together in your classroom. Fifth-graders could certainly assume some responsibility for planning activities, giving them ownership in the day.
Rather than seating your guests in the back of the room, include them in small group discussions or activities with students. For logistical and safety reasons, you may want to avoid activities that require goggles or other safety equipment. Check out NSTA’s journal Science & Children for activity ideas. Or you could ask the students investigations they have already done would be interesting to share with the guests. Students could be the facilitators and guide their guests through the investigation.

For example, some activities fifth graders and guests could do together include

• Using microscopes or hand lenses to look at objects.
• Classifying objects such as rocks, shells, or leaves.
• Exploring factors that could influence the distance objects such as marbles or toy cars travel down a ramp (e.g., length of the ramp, angle of the ramp, weight of the object, surface of the ramp)

Your guests may be interested in how students are using technology. Does your classroom have an interactive white board? Your guests may have seen these boards used on television and might be curious about how they work. You could ask students to demonstrate how to interact and provide opportunities for the guests to experience “board time.”
Students could teach their guests about other technologies such as science probes or iPads. If you have an electronic response system (i.e., clickers), you and your students could prepare a survey, game, or other activity that gives the guests a chance to use them. Your and your students could demonstrate video conferencing (such as Skype) with students and guests in another classroom or another school.
Students could also share how they contribute to a class wiki or blog and invite the guests to contribute. Students and guests could work together with online simulations or with tools such as Glogster to create posters or Edmodo to communicate.
Interviews could be a low-tech activity. Brainstorm ahead of time with your students to prepare questions such as “What inventions or advancements in science do you think have had major effects on our lives?” “What was it like when you studied science in school?” “What was your favorite science topic?” “What is/was your job and how does it involve science?” “Do any of your hobbies include scientific topics?” Students could take notes and summarize their findings.
Afterward, ask students to describe the day and what they learned from interacting with the guests. Perhaps you’ll identify some people in the community willing to volunteer as tutors or mentors for your school or to share their life experiences in more detail.